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Mr Ingall wrote to The Telegraph saying: “I find that ducks vote with their feet and virtually all the many houses that I have sold have been regularly occupied by ducks.”

His riposte came as it emerged that Sir Peter had also installed an ornate well cover bearing his initials in the garden of his former house in Titchfield, Hants, where the duck island was once installed.

In the centre of the cover, the letters PJV are spelt out in gold letters – his middle name is John.

Mr Ingall, 69, said that Sir Peter had bought the duck house for a “bargain” rate – prices have since risen to about £2,200.

Built by skilled antique restorers, his duck houses come in three other designs: a gothic banqueting house, the “Queen Anne” and a replica of Enniskillen Castle in Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

“I fully appreciate that it is a very expensive house for a duck but it is not just that,” he said.

“They caught people’s imagination.

“They are not ludicrous, they are things of beauty, designed with the purpose of giving someone the opportunity of having a folly in their garden.”

He has sold about 60 “bird pavilions”, which include chicken houses and dovecotes, in the past few years.

They were featured at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2007 and 2008 but Mr Ingall said the economic downturn had affected business recently.

Even nationwide publicity following The Telegraph disclosure about Sir Peter’s expense claim has failed to generate a rush of interest – with only one inquiry as a result of the scandal.

Mr Ingall, a former lieutenant colonel in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, also rejected claims that the doors to his duck houses were too wide to be comfortable for the birds. He said that the entrances could be adapted with the addition of a plate painted black.